Octet (musical)

Octet is a chamber choir musical written and composed by Dave Malloy and directed by Annie Tippe. The show "explores addiction and nihilism within the messy context of 21st century technology."[1]

Octet
Original album cover art
MusicDave Malloy
LyricsDave Malloy
BookDave Malloy
Productions2019 Signature Theatre Company
AwardsDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Music
Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical
Obie Award for Collaboration on Music & Sound

Synopsis

Eight Internet addicts gather in a support group called "Friends of Saul" in a church basement and share their stories, in a score for an a cappella chamber choir and an original libretto inspired by internet comment boards, scientific debates, religious texts, and Sufi poetry.[2]

Musical numbers

The musical is structured around a series of hymns and "shares," as the group members explain their relationship to technology. Each song corresponds to one of the Major Arcana, the picture cards in a tarot deck.[3][4]

Productions

The piece premiered on May 19, 2019 at Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre in New York City. It was extended three times in June, ultimately finishing in June 30.[5]

The production was Directed by Annie Tippe, with Music Supervision & Music Direction by Or Matias, Scenic Design by Amy Rubin & Brittany Vasta, Costume Design by Brenda Abbandandolo, Lighting Design by Christopher Bowser, Sound Design by Hidenori Nakajo, and Production Stage Management by Jhanaë Bonnick[6]

Octet is scheduled to have its West Coast premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in the Spring of 2021, once again directed by Annie Tippe.[7]

Roles and principal casts
Character Off-Broadway (2019)
Ed Adam Bashian
Karly Kim Blanck
Paula Starr Busby
Henry Alex Gibson
Toby Justin Gregory Lopez
Marvin J.D. Mollison
Jessica Margo Seibert
Velma Kuhoo Verma

Influences

The program's bibliography cites several sources of inspiration, including:

Text
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio; John Cage, Silence; Nicholas Carr, The Shallows; Chuang-Tzu; Ernest Cline, Ready Player One; Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion; Philip K. Dick, Valis; James Gleick, The Information; Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind; Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near; C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters; Angela Nagle, Kill All Normies; Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind; Catherine Price, How to Break Up with Your Phone; Jon Ronson, So You've Been Publicly Shamed; Rumi, “A Great Wagon”; George Saunders, Tenth of December; Wallace Shawn, Essays; Neil Stephenson, Snow Crash; Alan Watts, The Book; Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass; Pete Walker, Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving

Theater
Caryl Churchill, Love and Information; Marvin Hamlisch, Edward Kleban, James Kirkwood Jr. & Nicholas Dante, A Chorus Line; Stephen Sondheim & George Furth, Company

Tarot
The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot; Kim Krans, The Wild Unknown Tarot

Film
Altered States; Black Mirror: S01E03 “The Entire History of You”; S03E01 “Nosedive”; S03E06 “Hated in the Nation”; Blade Runner; The Matrix; My Dinner with Andre

Podcasts
Reply All; Dear Sugar

Games
Candy Crush; Cookie Clicker'

Everything; Inside; Journey; Universal Paperclips; The Witness; World of Warcraft

Music
Robert Ashley, Perfect Lives; Luciano Berio, Sinfonia; Philip Glass, Einstein on the Beach; Meredith Monk, Dolmen Music; Nico Muhly, Two Boys, Mothertongue; Sacred Harp; Caroline Shaw, Partita for 8 Voices; Toby Twining, Chrysalid Requiem[8]

Critical response

The piece was well received by the New York press. Ben Brantley of the New York Times calling it "a sublime chamber opera" that "promises to be the most original and topical musical of the year." He praised the performers as "uniformly excellent" and whose "layered and contrapuntal voices produce a dazzling spectrum of effects".[9] Sara Holdren of Vulture wrote that "Octet is that rare and thrilling thing: a new musical that really does feel new. Formally, it’s both unique and invigorating — and it’s rigorous and straightforward enough in its structure for its ideas to spiral into rich, dense fractals. In the face of a virtual world where “there’s no coming back / No rehabilitation / No nuance / Just noise,” it takes a bravely unequivocal yet generous stand. It sings of darkness, blindness, and fear, but it sings also of complexity, connection, redemption, and hope."[3] Adam Feldman of Time Out New York gave Octet 5 ouf of 5 stars and wrote: "Under Annie Tippe’s taut direction, all eight bits of Octet’s byte-size cast perform Malloy’s challenging compositions with exceptional skill, abetted by Or Matias’s musical direction and Hidenori Nakajo’s sound design. As Broadway shows increasingly rely on massive spectacle, Octet proves that well-polished pieces of eight are enough."[10] David Cote of Observer wrote that it was not only "one of the most thought-provoking and soul-stirring musicals I’ve seen in ages, it has an ingeniously woven, harmonically lush score that you’ll want to revisit."[11]

Awards and nominations

Original Off-Broadway production
Year Award Category Nominee Result
2020 Lucille Lortel Awards[12] Outstanding Musical Won
Outstanding Director Anne Tippe Won
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Alex Gibson Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Kuhoo Verma Won
Outstanding Sound Design Hidenori Nakajo Nominated
Drama Desk Awards[13] Outstanding Musical Nominated
Outstanding Director of a Musical Anne Tippe Nominated
Outstanding Music Dave Malloy Won
Outstanding Lyrics Nominated
Outstanding Book of a Musical Nominated
Outstanding Orchestrations Or Matias and Dave Malloy Nominated
Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical Amy Rubin and Brittany Vasta Nominated
Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical Hidenori Nakajo Nominated
Outstanding Ensemble Adam Bashian, Kim Blanck, Starr Busby, Alex Gibson, Justin Gregory Lopez, J.D. Mollison, Margo Seibert, and Kuhoo Verma Won
Drama League Awards[14] Outstanding Production of a Musical Nominated
Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical Won
Outstanding New Score Dave Malloy Honoree
Obie Award[15] Collaboration on Music & Sound Dave Malloy, Or Matias, Hidenori Nakajo Won

Cast recording

A Kickstarter campaign was in the works to produce a cast recording.[16] The album was eventually released on November 15, 2019.[17]

gollark: Well, I was timed out for 10 minutes for whatever reason, and people generally don't press buttons like that by accident.
gollark: There are obviously some non-voting ways to influence politics, but those are generally more costly/annoying, so the situation is probably not much better.
gollark: Discussing politics also has the great effect of sometimes alienating people you know.
gollark: Since your probability of deciding an election by voting is not very high, the expected value of that is very low, and - since people are very hard to convince away from their views - it's even worse for *discussing* politics.
gollark: Regardless of how much you think the results of elections and such matter, I contest that for an individual, at least, politics is not very important.

References
  1. "New musical Octet, by Tony Award nominee Dave Malloy". www.signaturetheatre.org. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  2. Soloski, Alexis (May 3, 2019). "What Inspired a New Musical? Conspiracy Theories. And Yodeling". New York Times.
  3. Holdren, Sara (May 20, 2019). "Octet Takes Flight on 8-bit Wings". Vulture. Retrieved July 1, 2019. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  4. "Octet by Dave Malloy". Genius.
  5. Staff, Playbill (June 30, 2019). "Dave Malloy's A Cappella Musical Octet Ends Extended Off-Broadway Run June 30". Playbill. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  6. https://www.signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Productions/2018-2019/Octet.aspx
  7. Berkeley Rep https://www.berkeleyrep.org/boxoffice/packages.asp. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. Octet Playbill insert
  9. Brantley, Ben (May 19, 2019). "The Human Voice Versus the Internet in Octet". New York Times. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  10. Feldman, Adam (May 20, 2019). "Dave Malloy Breaks the Internet". Time Out New York. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  11. Cote, David (May 19, 2019). "Internet Addicts Make Beautiful Music Together in 'Octet'". Observer. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  12. Clement, Olivia; Meyer, Dan (April 14, 2020). "Playwrights Horizons Leads 2020 Lucille Lortel Award Nominations With Strange Loop and Heroes of the Fourth Turning". Playbill. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  13. "PBreaking: 2020 Drama Desk Awards Nominations- The Full List!". Broadway World. April 21, 2020. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  14. Desk, BWW News. "Breaking News: Drama League Announces 2020 Nominations". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  15. "2020 Obie Awards". obieawards.com. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  16. Clement, Olivia (June 20, 2019). "Cast Recording of Dave Malloy's Octet in the Works". Playbill. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  17. "Octet (Original Cast Recording)". Apple Music. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
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